I am a literary giant in Europe

Chapter 566 I don't know him!
Ottilie is over four months pregnant.

Yes, it'll be five months soon!
After becoming pregnant, Ottilie became a bit eccentric.

For example, Liu Jin had never heard of this Indra that she was talking about.

But judging from the name, it sounds like someone from South Asia?
Ottilie didn't give a direct answer, instead rambling on, "That guy said in the newspaper that you're an overrated author and that your new book is completely hyped up and not nearly as good as people say."

Who is he?
What right does he have to say that?

"Les Misérables will surely become one of the most brilliant jewels in the history of modern French literature, won't it?"

It seemed she was hoping to get a definitive answer from Liu.

Liu Jin couldn't help laughing!
Although Ottilie's speech is often incoherent now, he can sense her concern.

"Of course, without a doubt."

"Hehe, I knew it... I'm going to sleep."

After saying that, she hung up the phone.

No, who exactly is Indra?
Liu Jin felt utterly bewildered!
However, he didn't take it to heart.

Many people translate his name literally, so who does Indra count for?

He first tidied up the manuscript, then went into his study, turned on the photocopier, and made several copies of the manuscript he had finished that day.

This is also one of his habits.

Every day I would make a copy of the completed manuscript and then bind them separately.

Finally, he put the manuscript away and placed it in the safe.

He then called Lala and told her to come and pick up the manuscript.

Lala has a key to his place, so he doesn't need to worry about it.

He put several bound copies of the prepared photocopies into his backpack, then carried the backpack out and rode his Ural motorcycle.

That sidecar motorcycle is so cool!
It's just too fuel-consuming...

Fortunately, Liu Jin didn't care too much about it.

He first went to Delphine's café and gave her a copy of the manuscript.

"Is this the book that's being circulated outside?"

Delphine was quite excited and carefully stroked the cover.

"Yes, please correct me if I'm wrong."

"I can't correct it, but I will definitely read it carefully."

Sylvie Delphine gave a gentle reply.

Liu Jin sat in the coffee shop for a while, chatted with Sylvie, and then rode away on his bike.

Shortly after he left, Sylvie made a phone call.

"Frank, do you have a moment? Come over here for a bit."

"Yes, I'd like to amend my will. Ideally, there should be a video recording."

……

Liu Jin rode his bicycle straight to Toulouse II.

He placed the tidied copy in front of Michel Ranke.

Michelle looked at him in surprise and said, "Didn't you say it would take a while to finish?"

"I've been in a really good mood lately, so I finished writing it ahead of schedule!"

"Oh my, this state thing is really amazing... Amos, tell me, how do you change your state?"
My recent writing hasn't been going very smoothly.

"Um, I should get more girlfriends!"

"Get out of here!"

Michelle was furious, her beard bristling and eyes wide with anger, and she launched into a tirade of curses

Meanwhile, Iris and Ciel, who were sitting at the door, covered their mouths and chuckled.

"If I were thirty years younger... no, twenty years younger, I would definitely go looking for my muse. Unfortunately, I'm too old now!"

After saying that, he couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Liu Jin couldn't help but laugh.

Elise brought over a cup of rich, hand-ground coffee, and Liu Jin took a sip.

"Professor, who is Indra?"

"Who?"

"Indra Sinha, my editor told me he was giving me trouble, but didn't say it very clearly."

I've been writing a lot lately, so I don't know what happened.

Judging from the name, you're from South Asia?

Just then, Charles walked in.

He held the coffee Elise had made and said casually, "You mean Indra Sinha?"

"Is there a difference?"

"It's just a pronunciation issue; there's not much difference."

He sat down to the side and smiled, "He's of mixed Indian and British descent, 55 years old this year, born in Kraba, Mumbai, India. His father was a naval officer, a Kshatriya; his mother was a British writer, and quite well-known."

He graduated from the Department of Literature at Cambridge University and then entered the advertising industry.

He was a highly skilled copywriter, and in the 90s he was named one of the ten best advertising copywriters by the British media…

However, as you should know, the British love to create these kinds of bizarre rankings.

"Ha, then I do know."

"In the mid-1990s, he began writing after moving from Great Britain to France, and it seems he settled in the Lot Valley. He wrote 'The Internet Gypsy' and a novel, 'The Death of Mr. Love,' which were based on his experiences in India. His readers were mostly South Asian immigrants, and he gained some fame."

Michelle looked at Charles with a puzzled expression. "How do you know so much?"

"I became interested in him after he made some disrespectful remarks about his junior in an interview with Le Figaro some time ago."

Charles's answer was understated.

But Liu Jin couldn't resist moving closer and putting his arm around Xia Er's shoulder.

He could feel the care and concern between his fellow students.

Michelle smiled too.

Now that you mention it, I do remember.

Does he have a book being published this year?

"The People of Animals" (also translated as "People Call Me Animals") is a work published by Simon & Schuster.

"Simon and Schuster? Isn't that America's publishing house?"

Liu Jin is quite familiar with America's major publishing houses.

This publishing house is also a long-established one, not much different from HarperCollins, The Scholars, and Random House. It primarily publishes English-language books, and its distribution channels are mainly focused on the Five Eyes alliance countries.

"How's the score?"

"Not bad, they made it into the top ten, but they were heavily suppressed by Amos."

Although Amos only has one collection of short stories this year, it has received excellent reviews and has consistently ranked in the top ten.

In addition, the French version of his novel "The Shadow of the Wind" is also very popular and is currently firmly ranked number one.

"The People of Animals" received decent reviews, but neither its critical acclaim nor sales have improved, so they're probably desperate.

Just trying to piggyback on someone else's traffic!

Upon hearing Charles's words, Liu Jin understood. This guy was even more tasteless than Guillaume Miso.

At least Guillaume, who was trying to gain attention, did it head-on, but this guy...

Yes, that aligns with Liu Jin's understanding of Indians.

They never dare to confront you directly, but they always prefer to use underhanded methods to ambush you and disgust you.

Professor Michelle gave a cold laugh.

"Amos, don't respond to this guy."

"why?"

"If you respond, he'll swarm around you like a fly, buzzing around... You know what I mean."

"Haha, Professor, your 'buzzing' just now was really skillful."

"Bastard boy!"

Professor Michelle chuckled and cursed, then took three cigars from the cigar box on the table and tossed them to Liu Jin.

"Upman? Good stuff!"

Michelle smiled smugly.

He lit a cigar and said in a deep voice, "I vaguely remember what he said."

It's also my fault; I've been showing off a bit lately, so much so that your book is already widely known even before it's finished. Now everyone is incredibly interested in your new work, so that guy got scared and came out to bark a couple of times.

You are now considered a person of standing in the literary world.

Keep writing well, and in another ten or twenty years, you might become the next generation's Dumas or Stendhal. There's no need to argue with him.

By the way, who do you plan to publish this book with?

"The Hachette Group!"

Liu Jin laughed and said, "Mr. Arnaud Lagardère is very sincere. He offered me a 30% royalty, plus a first print run of two million copies. In addition, the Hachette Group will be responsible for the language versions, and they are willing to pay a copyright fee of one million euros... Hmm, I think it's not bad, so I agreed to hand it over to them!"

Professor Michelle smiled with satisfaction.

"Actually, when you were writing Notre Dame de Paris, I wanted to persuade you to submit it to the Hachette Group for publication."

Alternatively, the University of France Press would also be acceptable!

Singer and Midnight Publishers aren't bad, but frankly, they're slightly inferior to Hachette, Edith Publishers, or even the University of France Press. This has nothing to do with Mela and Irene's abilities… if you're just publishing works like *Amélie* or *Night at the Museum*, their distribution channels are sufficient.

But works like Notre Dame de Paris, Les Misérables, and The Old Man and the Sea...

Amos, a work that can bring you unparalleled honor, must be supported by large capital or published by a well-established publishing house.

To put it simply, if your work had been published by Hachette or Edith, or even by the University of France, the Prix Goncourt or the Grand Prix des Literati of the French Academy, it would have been yours for sure.

To survive in this world, you need connections and influence...

For some reason, Liu Jin felt that Professor Michelle's words surprisingly matched these lines of dialogue!

"Mera is a smart girl, and she made the best choice."

Just wait and see, Mr. Lagardère will definitely give it his all for this year's Goncourt Prize.

"hope so!"

……

In his office, Liu Jin finished smoking an Upmann cigarette and then took his leave.

Before leaving, Professor Michel reminded him again not to respond to that Indra thing.

"What are your plans for the future?"

"Nothing much planned, but I'm going to Cannes on May 18th."

"Take Ciel and Iris with you."

"what?"

“I’ve been busy writing lately and haven’t had any plans. They’re bored here… They’ve been with me for so many years, all they do is talk about boring data and theories, it’s really stifling. How about I take them out to broaden their horizons?”

"no problem!"

"And what about your writing plans?"

“I already have plans, but I want to take advantage of the fact that I’m not busy this month to finish Ms. Béa’s script.”

"What script?"

"A screenplay based on the legendary life of Edith Piaf."

"Edith Piaf?"

Professor Michelle's eyes lit up.

"This is a good subject matter, much better than your previous novel, 'The Hangover'... To be honest, writing a novel like 'The Hangover' is beneath your dignity."

But it's about making money!
I made a profit of 180 million US dollars from this book.

Liu Jin shouted in his heart.

But he won't say it.

"Alright, go relax. You've really had a tough time these past few months!"

"Then I'll take my leave first!"

……

Liu Jin, Charles, and Elise arranged to have dinner together over the weekend to discuss their trip to Cannes.

As I walked out of the teaching building and entered the parking lot, several paparazzi suddenly darted out from the side and started snapping photos.

Then, a reporter approached Liu Jin to ask him what he thought of Indra's remarks.

Judging from the looks of it, the reporter has been keeping an eye on him the whole time.

Liu Jin kept the professor's reminder in mind.

Who is Indra?

The reporter was taken aback.

He was about to introduce Indra Sinha to Liu Jin when Liu Jin spoke up first, saying, "Excuse me, I have other things to attend to, goodbye."

After saying that, he got on his bike.

Just as they were about to start, the reporter, looking flustered, said, "Mr. Amos, are you pretending not to know Mr. Indra because you're afraid?"

Or perhaps he's right, and you're feeling guilty?

Liu Jin knew that if he didn't respond, who knew what that damn reporter would say.

"Which newspaper are you a reporter for?"

"The Sun..."

Well, I have to respond.

The reporters at The Sun are all fucking geniuses at writing gossip.

"I'm sorry, I really don't know any Indra, and I'm not sure what he said either."

He said, "You are an overrated writer, and your new book is also overrated!"

Liu Jin paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Whether it's an overestimation or not, it's not up to him or me to decide. Let the readers be the judge."

In addition, my new book has been completed and I believe it will be available to readers soon.

Whether it's overrated or not, I don't know, but I'm confident that this will be a literary work that surpasses *The Hunchback of Notre Dame*.

After saying that, Liu Jin twisted the accelerator.

The Ural armored vehicles roared to life and sped away...

(End of this chapter)